F1 2019 (Not the game) Spoiler-All

Rush is on Amazon Prime, at least in the UK it is, watching it now. Great film, truly one of the best sports films out there.

An impressive drive, but nevertheless, another Mercedes win today.

I understand it's immense history in the sport and the spectacle of it, and I know i'm very much a newbie here but... is it just me, or is Monaco by far the most boring track on the calendar?

It's not just you.

The cars have outgrown the track and F1 should not race* there anymore.

*I know, I know... they hardly race there now.

A surprisingly interesting race, considering Monaco.

I'm torn. On the one hand, the history, and pomp & circumstance of Monaco would be missed if it was off the calendar. And from an (eww) advertising perspective, I believe it is the race with the highest viewership every year.

But yeah, impossible to pass isn't really a desirable feature for a race track.

Drivers love it as a rite of passage, whereas it may be boring to watch, from their side its the one race where they don't get a moment to relax.

Canada FP1 is live. Track is absolutely filthy. Drivers all over the place.

Did nobody let Canada know that they make road Zambonis?

Didn't think I'd see a red car on pole so soon.

This is my favourite thing https://streamable.com/ffp9w

Mr Bismarck wrote:

This is my favourite thing https://streamable.com/ffp9w

I don't know whether it was a bad call or not, but either way it sucks to come in second because of that. I'd be angry as well!

It was a horrible call.
What was Seb to do? His car was careening in a specific direction. Physics tells us that it can be hard to change that direction when you have no traction. Hot, grass-covered tires don't have a lot of grip. If he had tried to cut more left chances are he would have either spun or hit the wall.

Did he f*ck up? YES! It was corner cutting. But he gained no position, so there should be no penalty.
It was a racing incident.

And to see Mercedes just handed another P1 is heartbreaking as a fan of the sport.

Yeah, it seemed like a nasty, borderline, damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of call. Well, maybe they would have been slightly less damned if they didn't, but still.

Nice to see both drivers be about as classy as possible about it.

I'm really interested to see what Jolyon has to say about it when they get his analysis video up.

Other than that though, what a fantastic race.

Before the stewards even announced there was an investigation Jolyon said "that's a five second penalty."

Then in the post-race podcast he doubled down on that saying not only was the penalty the correct call, but some of Seb's reaction was deliberate to try to move conversation solely to the penalty and away from the fact that Seb made another mistake while under pressure in the lead.

I personally don't think it should have been a penalty, but I'm looking forward to Jolyon's breakdown on the F1 YT channel to hear more.

I don't like the penalty as it was implemented. I think Seb should have been expect to give up the position because he is the driver that made the mistake and prevented Lewis from passing even if he wasn't in control. This also lets them fight for the remaining laps to have a good finish. By giving a 5 second penalty, it guaranteed Lewis was going to win.

Oh, hmm. Well now I'm even more curious.
Hurry up and post the vid, F1!

Palmer has posted his thoughts to the BBC now.

His contention is that either Seb was out of control, in which case it was an unsafe re-entry, or that he was in control, in which case he deliberately forced Hamilton over far enough over that Lewis had to hit his brakes to avoid a collision.

One or other case must be true and either deserves a penalty.

Huh.

As expected his breakdown makes it more acceptable, I suppose. I can see where he's coming from. But I think maybe my biggest issue is calling this unsafe reentry in the first place, as opposed to calling it corner cutting or whatnot. Is all corner cutting also inherently unsafe reentry? Or just this time? In that case, I like Distantsound's idea above of making Seb give up P1 to Lewis.

Anyway, not gonna second guess Jolyon. If he sees that clearly a rule was broken, then so be it.

But I'm still cranky.

Let say he did intentionally squeeze him out, why is that a penalty? If he hadn't cut the corner and Ham was able to get between him and the wall, but Ham slows down because Seb is squeezing him and doesn't actually touch him, then it's not a penalty. Correct?

If he intentionally did it then he has control of the car and is just racing. If he was just trying to get control then he is saving the car. Either way, there should be no penalty.

I'm probably going into a different subject but If Seb had control, I don't think squeezing Lewis like that is good racing. We want the cars to be side by side. Blocking or trying to wreck the other drivers is counter to the goal in my opinion.

[edit spelling]

It's not especially nice racing, but it's also not the only example of such. There are many examples fairly recently, such as the 2016 Monaco race where Hamilton squeezed Ricciardo, which I've seen cited a number of times discussing this elsewhere. In that case, there was no penalty.

And if we were to go back and look at the racing habits of some of the most notable champions, like Senna and Schumacher, such tactics were essentially staples of their racing style. As someone commented in a reddit thread, such activities were "criticized, but not penalized."

Apart from the time Schumacher hit Villeneuve and they penalised him an entire season's worth of points.

Chainbear weighs in.

That was good too. I like the graphic illustrations.

All of Chainbear's videos are good stuff.

Yeah, was unfamiliar with the channel until now. Subbed!

Jolyon's video is up on the official channel now.

Yeah, and it's good.

On another note, why is F1 merch apparently all trash? I just want a hat, and apparently nice, fitted caps are not a thing in the UK or something. Every hat for every team I glanced at is a snap back or buckle back or some other form of lame.

I just want a dope Renault cap, dammit!

Spoiler alert for entire 2019 season : Mercedes 1-2.

Meanwhile, Ferrari discover a foolproof method to ensure they make no tactical mistakes going forward.

Mr Bismarck wrote:

Spoiler alert for entire 2019 season : Mercedes 1-2.

Meanwhile, Ferrari discover a foolproof method to ensure they make no tactical mistakes going forward.

It makes it very boring to watch F1 when the winner is predetermined.